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English Literature

The English literature program teaches students to read with imagination and insight, to write with clarity and grace, and to confront and consider the deeper questions of the human experience. The program focuses on the pleasure, the power, the depth, and the strange beauty of literary expression; it builds the skills to write clearly and critically in order to analyze a text and to formulate a response to a piece of writing.

Highlights

Take specialized courses, such as Shakespeare, Holocaust Literature, Literature and Disability, and Vietnam Literature and Film

Work individually with professors on significant research projects and present a thesis to the university community

Intern with local publishers as well as Pacific’s master of fine arts in writing program

Study abroad in Asia, Australia, Europe or South America or teach English in China, Korea and Japan

Courses

In addition to general English courses, English literature majors or minors are offered courses such as Shakespeare, Holocaust Literature, Literature and Disability, and Vietnam Literature and Film, and classes focusing specifically on other important literary figures such as Jane Austen, Virginia Woolf, James Joyce, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Henry David Thoreau.

Preparation

Graduates of Pacific University’s English literature program are prepared to enter a wide range of professional fields. Employers in virtually every field give high regard to the fact English graduates have spent four years analyzing texts, sharpening their critical thinking skills and crafting first-rate essays. Recent graduates have gone into publishing, writing for large and small businesses, law school, and health science programs. Our graduates include Fulbright Scholars, published authors and teachers.

Related Story

When Mike Steele was told he should go to college, he named the best he'd heard of: Notre Dame. One of the most beloved professors at Pacific University, Steele went from being the first in his family to attend college to earning a PhD and living a career in academia.